Westferry station is in Limehouse and given its proximity to the former Limehouse station on the London & Blackwall Railway, could have been given this name, but instead Stepney East was renamed Limehouse and the DLR station there given that name. West India Quay was reserved for the station at the other end of West India Dock, so there was no obvious choice.

There is no place called Westferry; the name is derived from the nearby Westferry Road. Nor was there ever a west ferry. There was a passenger ferry at the southern tip of The Isle of Dogs run by the Greenwich watermen. It was accessed by two roads, East Ferry Road (also known locally as Farm Road) and Westferry Road, built in 1812 when a horse ferry was introduced alongside the passenger ferry. The two roads still exist, running down the centre and west side of the Isle of Dogs respectively. But the road names refer to an ancient service at the far end of the Isle of Dogs from the station.